page_title: Aerotrain (GM)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Aerotrain (GM) / History
caption_attribution_description: Rock Island Aerotrain No. 3 at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.
context_page_description: The Aerotrain was a streamlined trainset that the General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division introduced in 1955. GM originally designated the light-weight consist as Train-Y before the company adopted the Aerotrain marketing name.
context_section_description: On August 22, 1955, Mrs. N.C. Dezendorf, the wife of GM vice-president and EMD general manager N.C. Dezendof, christened the first Aerotrain trainset (GM-T1) during a press preview of the train that EMD held at its plant in McCook, Illinois (mailing address: La Grange, Illinois). On January 5, 1956, one Aerotrain made a test run from Washington to Newark on the Pennsylvania Railroad while the other traveled in four hours from Chicago to Detroit on the New York Central Railroad.
  In late February 1956, the Pennsylvania Railroad rented the first trainset from GM and began operating it between New York City and Pittsburgh as the Pennsy.  In June, the Pennsylvania reduced its Aerotrain's route, whereupon the trainset traveled only between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
  After the second trainset's initial test run on January 5, General Motors demonstrated it on several railroads, including the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, where in April the train operated in California between Los Angeles and San Diego as a San Diegan. In late April, the New York Central began to operate that trainset in revenue service between Chicago and Detroit. From July to October, the New York Central ran the train between Chicago and Cleveland, after which it returned the trainset to GM.
  In December 1956, the Union Pacific Railroad began to operate the second trainset between Los Angeles and Las Vegas as the City of Las Vegas. The Pennsy continued to run between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh until June 1957, after which time the first transit joined the second in the Union Pacific's City of Las Vegas service. Unsatisfied with both, the Union Pacific stopped operating the two trainsets in September and October of 1957.
  In October, 1958, General Motors sold both trainsets at a discount to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island line), which designated their locomotives as numbers 2 and 3 while using both trainsets in commuter service between Chicago and Joliet. Both trainsets ended service in 1966, ten years after they first ran. Although the Rock Island scrapped or re-used most of the trainsets' equipment, both locomotives and two pairs of coaches remain on display in museums.
  Meanwhile, the first EMD LWT12 locomotive (serial number 20826), began to travel on the Rock Island line between Chicago and Peoria in February 1956 when pulling the line's Jet Rocket train, which bore a strong resemblance to an Aerotrain. The Rock Island later designated the power car as locomotive number 1. 
  The American Car and Foundry Company constructed the Jet Rocket's coaches, most of which were similar, but not identical, to those of the Talgo II. The last car resembled that of the future Talgo III.
  Unlike the slanted sides of the windows on the Aerotrain's ten coaches, the windows on the Jet Rocket's twelve coaches had vertical sides.  In addition, the Jet Rocket's Talgo-like coaches had one axle, whereas the Aerotrain's coaches had two.
  After less than two years, the Rock Island shortened the Jet Rocket's route. The train then traveled only between Chicago and Joliet, as did the railroad's two Aerotrains. The railroad scrapped the train several years later.  
  GM's "lightweight with a heavyweight future" was introduced at a time when passenger train revenues were declining due to competition from airlines and private automobiles. Although they featured a streamlined design, the Aerotrains failed to capture the public's imagination. Their cars, based on GM's bus designs and using an air cushioning system, were rough riding and uncomfortable. The design of the locomotive section made routine maintenance difficult and it was underpowered.
  Originally intended to reach speeds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h) and to travel between New York City and Chicago in 10.5 hours, modifications reduced the Aerotrain's maximum speed to 80 mph (129 km/h). Further, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe needed a helper locomotive to enable the 1,200 horsepower LWT-12 power car to climb the Sorrento grade outside of San Diego when pulling the Aerotrain's ten coaches, and a 
caption: The Rock Island line's Aerotrain No. 3 on display in the Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri (May 2006).
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:05:20 16:14:26", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "212", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1156", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6412", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:05:20 16:14:26", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:05:20 16:14:26", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ApertureValue": "46331/8192", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "683", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1024", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "683", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1008", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "768000/223", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "409600/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "c023085575c5b4ed18bc79454ebbe13a"}